Sentencing derailed when defendant collapses

Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 03:16 PM.

PANAMA CITY — Medics wheeled an admitted tax cheat and pension thief out of the U.S. District Court on a stretcher after she collapsed during her sentencing hearing Wednesday.

It wasn’t her eight-year prison sentence that put Wendy Corbitt on the floor, although she did sob as Judge Richard Smoak announced the length of her incarceration, it was the second part of her sentence. Smoak ordered Corbitt to pay $2.2 million in restitution. That’s when she collapsed backward and hit her head on the floor.

There was a brief period of pandemonium as members of Corbitt’s family rushed to her aid and her daughter wailed until U.S. marshals cleared the court of spectators. Medics arrived and took Corbitt to a local hospital for treatment for what her attorney, Rusty Shepard, later described as symptoms consistent with a concussion.

The hearing was not concluded and it’s not clear yet when Corbitt will return to court.

Corbitt, 38, pleaded guilty in October to a 67-count indictment charging her with embezzlement and tax evasion for stealing nearly $2 million between 2007 and 2012 from the People’s First Properties Retirement Savings Plan. Corbitt, who was a People’s First employee, managed the plan.

She was arrested by Panama City Police in March upon her return from a vacation and charged in state court but those charges were dropped when she was indicted in August by a federal grand jury.

Smoak ordered Corbitt to repay more than $1,880,000 to the pension fund and nearly $400,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.

PANAMA CITY — Medics wheeled an admitted tax cheat and pension thief out of the U.S. District Court on a stretcher after she collapsed during her sentencing hearing Wednesday.

It wasn’t her eight-year prison sentence that put Wendy Corbitt on the floor, although she did sob as Judge Richard Smoak announced the length of her incarceration, it was the second part of her sentence. Smoak ordered Corbitt to pay $2.2 million in restitution. That’s when she collapsed backward and hit her head on the floor.

There was a brief period of pandemonium as members of Corbitt’s family rushed to her aid and her daughter wailed until U.S. marshals cleared the court of spectators. Medics arrived and took Corbitt to a local hospital for treatment for what her attorney, Rusty Shepard, later described as symptoms consistent with a concussion.

The hearing was not concluded and it’s not clear yet when Corbitt will return to court.

Corbitt, 38, pleaded guilty in October to a 67-count indictment charging her with embezzlement and tax evasion for stealing nearly $2 million between 2007 and 2012 from the People’s First Properties Retirement Savings Plan. Corbitt, who was a People’s First employee, managed the plan.

She was arrested by Panama City Police in March upon her return from a vacation and charged in state court but those charges were dropped when she was indicted in August by a federal grand jury.

Smoak ordered Corbitt to repay more than $1,880,000 to the pension fund and nearly $400,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.

Smoak had previously signed an order for Corbitt to forfeit her interests in two properties — a home in Panama City and vacation villa in Hawaii — along with 11 pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage valued at several thousand dollars and an iPad.

NOTE: Clicking on hashtags in this stream may result in seeing adult material, such as photos or foul language, that appear elsewhere on Twitter. We do not endorse such material, but we do not have control over what items can be found in hashtag searches.